More than 1,300 flights to and from Heathrow Airport are set to be disrupted on Friday due to the airport’s closure following a fire at a nearby electrical substation. The blaze at the North Hyde electrical substation in west London has left thousands of homes without power and led to the evacuation of more than 100 people after a transformer caught fire.
Heathrow Airport, which is powered by the substation, confirmed it was among those affected by the power outage. Online flight tracking service FlightRadar24 revealed that the closure would impact over 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow, including 679 scheduled to land and 678 due to depart. It also noted that 120 flights were already airborne en route to the airport when the closure was announced.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage across the airport due to a large fire at a nearby electrical substation. Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored. To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23h59 on 21 March 2025. We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.
“We will provide an update when more information on the resumption of operations is available. We know this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we are working as hard as possible to resolve the situation.”
Reports have suggested that some flights will be diverted to other airports, including Gatwick, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Ireland’s Shannon Airport.
Here’s how to check on your flight from Gatwick, London City, Stansted and Luton Airports:
Gatwick Aiport
So far this morning, there has not appeared to be any major disruption at Gatwick Airport since Heathrow closed. Travellers can check arrivals and departures to and from Gatwick Airport here.
London City Airport
London City was also operating normally, with no major delays reported. Flights to and from the airport can be checked here.
Stansted
Flights to and from Stansted Airport appeared to be largely on time. Travellers can check for updates here.
Luton Airport
Luton Airport also appeared to be operating normally. Travellers can check arrivals here and departures here.
